Move over, Scarlett O’Hara! It’s New England, 1861, and the troubles in the southern states seem a long way off for Jack Edgerton, the spoiled son of a prominent Vermont family. However, when he meets and falls in love with Aaron Johnson, the sexy son of a slave on the run from Virginia, Edgerton’s world is turned upside down. Separated by circumstances, the lovers pursue each other through the escalating madness of the Civil War and both find themselves forced to choose sides. After a series of outrageous adventures — including steamy woodland trysts and an impromptu jailhouse orgy that briefly reconciles the warring parties — they are reunited in the Shenandoah Valley in the autumn of 1864 — where the conflict is about to come to a bloody, burning climax.

“Lear’s depiction of sweaty orgies…trumps his Southern war plot, making the violent history a mere inconsequential backdrop to all of Jack and Aaron’s sticky mischief. Nice job.” —Bay Area Reporter

“The history lesson, however, is incidental to pages of hot, steamy, sticky sex, including an impromptu jailhouse orgy that briefly reconciles the warring parties. Yankee Doodle Randy!”—BOYZ

JAMES LEAR is the author of The Back Passage, The Low Road, and The Palace of Varieties. He lives in London.

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